Ford, Lincoln both stumble in a short July 2012

July 2012 had 2 fewer sales days than July 2011 and the result was a decline in the growth rate, with both of the current Ford Motor Company brands posting negative growth even though the Ford brand would have shown positive growth had the month been the same length.

Ford Motor Company posted a year over year decline in sales of 3.8% with both the Ford and Lincoln brands posting negative growth of their own. However, many of the Motor Company’s most important vehicles continued to show positive growth even in this shortened month.
The Ford brand posted a decline in year over year sales of 3.5% but if you consider the fact that Ford sold more vehicles per business day in 2012 than 2011 – the shortened month played the biggest factor in Ford’s rough month. With a gain of 20.7%, the Ford Fusion was the top model in terms of growth while the Taurus came in second with 15.3% and the Explorer was third with a jump of 14.3%. The Focus, Mustang and F Series lineup also posted positive growth in this short month and for the third month in a row - the Mustang bested the Chevrolet Camaro in sales. The top model in terms of sales volume was (and always is) the F Series pickup with 49,314 new trucks sold – more units sold than the majority of the single brands doing business in the US. The Fusion was second in sales with 23,326 units sold and the Escape was third with 21,572 small utes sold in July 2012. On the year, the Ford brand has sold 1,268,652 vehicles through the first seven months – an increase of 5.4% over the same period last year.

Things weren’t great for the Lincoln brand in July 2012 with a decline in year over year sales of 10.7%. The Lincoln MKT had a strong month with a 57.4% increase coming from 738 units sold and the Lincoln MKZ posted an increase of 5.7% but the rest of the luxury lineup posted a decline from July 2011 to July 2012. In terms of sales, the Lincoln MKZ was the top model with 3,033 midsized sedans sold followed by the MKX with 1,724 vehicles sold last month. The flagship Lincoln MKS was third in sales with 878 units sold. This was one of those months for the Lincoln brand where we just need to look to the future – which Ford Motor Company promises will be chock full of new models. Through the first seven months of 2012, Lincoln has sold 48,937 and while this marks a decline of 1.8% compared to the same period in 2011 – the luxury brand is still soldiering along without any truly new models.

Automakers never like to post negative growth but considering that the Ford brand was a victim of the shortened month while their major models still showed growth is a good sign for the company as a whole. FoMoCo has stated that there are a variety of new models in the pipeline for the Lincoln brand and the continued flow of popular new models from the Ford brand should have Ford sitting pretty through the end of the year.